The drownng accident of 1701. Thirty five people out of forty six were drowned in Lough Ree by a storm caused by Simon Hanly King of the Fairies of Fairymount. At that period there was no bridge over the Shannon at Lanesborough and people crossed the river in a pontoon or ferry boat. On Wednesday 2nd February 1701 when forty six persons with their stock and commodities were crossing from the Connaught side to attend a fiar held on the Rathcline or Leinster side of the river, the pontoon foundered. Thirty five of the occupants perished, eleven were saved. Richard Davys who made a record of the accidents in his diary and Mrs Poll Rooney were among those saved. The latter was carrying to the fair a basket of fowl, including a 'March Cock'